During the years (about 45 years) I used a lot of instruments. Nowadays I still have 14 guitars that I use. Ofcourse some guitars stays at home when I tour. Esspecially when I tour in Asia. The humanity is way to high compared with Europe. I always got a lot of trouble with the neck as you can imagine. I most say that my Martin guitar is still pretty ok after touring, ofcourse I have to adjust the neck a little bit. My new "baby" arrived last saturday (feb 2024) ...the Maton 100C 808 also known by "The Messiah . Never had an instrument like this....everything fits. The sound, playability and the looks. I have a custom made JY as well (two different ones). The AvV model (same as the JA model) is (after a lot of work)fantastic. When I reseived the guitar I had a lot of work on it in Holland to make it great. The wood is phenomenal (monkey pod) , ebbony fretboard and tailpiece. I needed 3(!) luthiers to make this guitar outstanding. They all did a great job. I replace the pick up JR Bag into a stereo Highlander. The neck has been completely redesigned, also the nuggets are replaced. I put my dog in the peghead as well...;-) I just sent a photo of my dog to Vietnam and they made a kind of logo (abalone) of it... and in Holland (Frank de Haan luthier) they put it in with an abalone letter Q (Quinty my dog). This guitar is now finally finished. It will stay into my studio most of the time. I have a nylon string Lowden. For me this is the best suitable nylon string guitar. Sound is wonderful and it plays like nothing else! My George Benson Ibanez is one of a kind as well. I use this for fingerstyle ballads (I am not a jazzplayer) and that works for me. If I want to enjoy myself with a little rock I just grab my Les Paul Classic. Electric guitar is for me fun and for myself and nobody else...;-). I have also a custom Les Paul model...that is art...just watch the pics...The Yairi D41 is my oldest (1977) guitar (Dreadnought)...It sounds tremendous. It will never leave my home. My first acoustic guitar (a present from my parents at Christmas 1978) is a Terada Jumbo. It sounds a lot like a Jumbo Gibson. I still use it ones in a while (I recorded "Don't shoot the piano player" on my last album). My Dobro is for me top quality as well. I only play the bottleneck on this. Great instrument. From Malaysia I have 2 Mesopatamia guitars. These guitars are not only good looking but also very handy to take it on tour. They sound good and play very nice as well, certaintly not to big to handle. I did several tours with those guitars. My Gretch guitar is for Chet Atkins stuff. Always nice to grab it ones in a time. Most of the time I plug my guitars into my Helix HX straight into my MOTU 896. On stage I like to use a Fishman SV220 (as a kind of monitor straight to the soundboard).

Finally my new Maton Messiah has arrived! What a "beast"...coming from Australia. I never complained about my guitars. My martin CP dreadnought sounds great acoustic and my custom made JY special is also acoustic a splendid instrument. Only on stage it takes sometimes a lot of energy and time to come to the right sound...but with the soundsystem inside the Maton Messiah (AP 5 pro) that's history! A build in microphone and a piezo...it blows all the other systems away. Within 5 minutes I have my sound and during a concert it is easy to adjust with the sliders on the guitar. Ones again it's nice to have this lady at home into the guitar family!